The French-Breton war 1487-1491 - the war between the French kingdom and the Duchy of Breton . Her reason was the lack of legitimate male heirs at the Breton Duke Francis II . The duke did not want his daughter and heiress Anna to marry the French king Charles VIII , as this would lead to the accession of the duchy to France. As a result, Francis II was looking for such a son-in-law so that he could confront a powerful neighbor.
| French-Breton War 1487-1491 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Fortresses on the border of Brittany and France in the 15th century | |||
| date | 1487-1491 | ||
| A place | Brittany | ||
| Cause | The absence of the Duke Francis II of Breton male heir; The desire of the French monarchy to annex Brittany to France | ||
| Total | The victory of France: the marriage of the French king Charles VIII and the Duchess Anna of Breton | ||
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Background
In 1481, Anna (at the age of 4) was engaged to the English prince Edward , son of the English king Edward IV . However, after the death of his father, Edward V was imprisoned in the Tower by his uncle Richard III and soon went missing. The attempts to find another groom from among the English or German princes turned out to be fruitless. The hostility between the Duchy of Breton and the Kingdom of France led to a war between them in 1485-1488, known as Mad . The winner was Charles VIII of France , as a result of the terms of the contract concluded at Verger, the Duke of Breton undertook not to marry Anna without the consent of the French king.
Circumstances of War
In 1488, Francis II passed away, and 11-year-old Anna became the duchess. In 1489, a new war broke out between the French kingdom and the Duchy of Breton. In violation of the agreement concluded at Verger, Anna’s advisers hastened to extradite her (in absentia) to King of Germany Maximilian of Habsburg , the future German emperor. However, Maximilian, busy with the war in Hungary, could not provide effective assistance to his wife.
War Results
As a result of the war, Charles VIII won and married Anna. The Breton Duchy was first de facto, and later de jure, annexed to the French Kingdom.